Most people have heard about the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal by now and are wondering about the fallout from the revelation personal data was being harvested from millions of users.
Two questions that we see most often are:
How will Facebook advertising change?
And what will the effect be to my lead generation campaign?
Both questions are fair and valid. In terms of what will most likely change as a result of the privacy violation, Partner Categories being removed is the biggest difference from an advertiser standpoint.
What does removing Partner Categories mean? Well, leveraging third-party data for targeting will no longer be an option. What’s interesting about this move, not that it’s unwarranted given the privacy concerns, is that use of this third-party data is pretty common among most ad platforms, not just Facebook. Obviously, with over 2 billion users, Facebook is in the spotlight and getting the brunt of the scrutiny.
So, you may be thinking, does this mean targeting will not be as effective, leading to higher acquisition costs? Not necessarily. Things will certainly be more difficult to dial in, but as advertisers, we can still effectively target by using data we’ve collected ourselves, data our clients have collected, and data gathered from Facebook which includes platform use and web browsing history.
At OppGen, a reason for our sustained success with our campaigns to due to analyzing all variables associated with your customer journey. Yes, targeting is important, but so is positioning. You can target the right people all day, but if your messaging and journey do not align with your target, you still won’t be able to maximize your advertising. Therefore, while we may lose some aspects of targeting on Facebook, there are still many points to optimize to improve cost per lead, and ultimately cost per customer acquisition.
Another potential advantage of these changes from Facebook is the improvement in credibility and trust from the consumer. Hopefully Facebook users take Facebook’s actions as progress towards a safer, more credible platform. If this is the case, a potential customer who sees your ad on Facebook may now be more inclined to view and click through it. We’ve seen if a user believes your company to be credible, they’re more likely to convert, as well.
It’s not yet fully clear the fallout from Facebook’s targeting changes, but ultimately it should lead to your potential customers finding you in a more trustworthy and credible manner. It also highlights the importance of working with a partner that gathers their own industry knowledge and understands the changes in the advertising landscape so your businesses or practice is always utilizing best practices to acquire customers.
Learn more about our social advertising programs at https://oppgen.com/social-advertising/…
